Gul to attend Astana 10t anniversary celebrations

President Abdullah Gul is set to attend celebrations in Astana, Kazakhstan next week at the invitation of his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev marking the city's 10th anniversary as the country's capital. In line with the importance of Ankara's relations with the Turkic world on his first official visit as president to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, Gul is also expected to meet with his Turkic counterparts as well as his Russian and Georgian counterparts Dimitri Medmedev and Mikhail Saakashvili. Energy-related issues in addition to bilateral ties are expected to dominate Gul's talks. Nazarbayev decided to move the country's capital from Almaty to Astana in December 1997. Since then, Astana has turned into the center of the country's economic, cultural and political life, and has become a magnet for foreign and domestic investors, showing significant development.